Swedish government to pay compensation to trans people who were ‘forcibly sterilized’

The Swedish government will shell out compensation to transgender people who were victims of forced sterilization, the country’s public health minister has confirmed.

Until 2013, Swedish law specified that people who wanted to change legal gender had to be “lacking the ability to procreate”.
This meant that hundreds of transgender people were forced to undergo surgery to prevent them from ever having children.

More than 160 victims of the policy brought a claim against the government over the practice – and after a long political battle lasting years, the Swedish government confirmed it would settle the case and pay out compensation.

In a statement, Public Health minister Gabriel Wikström confirmed that the government will develop legislation in order to allow compensation to be paid.

He said: “Until 2013, it was a requirement to undergo sterilisation for gender reassignment.

“It was an expression of a worldview that today we think is wrong, and renounce.

“The government will therefore introduce a bill, which means that those affected by the previous law shall be able to apply for compensation from the state.”

He added: “The ambition is that the law will come into force in July 2018.”